Mid-day Movers (TSON, ARCL, NATR, SCEI, GRH)

At about 12:30 p.m. today, all three major US stock indexes are lower, with the DJIA down about 57 points at around12,920, the Nasdaq down about 31 points at 2,945, and the S&P 500 down nearly 8.5 points to around 1,361. After opening lower this morning on weak data from Europe and Asia, the ISM non-manufacturing index for the US came in better than expected, but it was not enough to swing indexes toward gains. The dollar pened stronger today, but is now losing ground to the euro and the British pound with the dollar index down -0.13% at 79.299. The weaker dollar is pushing crude oil prices up.

Among the major movers at around noon today are TranS1 Inc. (NASDAQ: TSON), Archipelago Learning Inc. (NASDAQ: ARCL), Nature’s Sunshine Products Inc. (NASDAQ: NATR), Sino Clean Energy Inc (NASDAQ: SCEI), and GreenHunter Energy Inc. (AMEX: GRH).

TranS1 is up about 26% at $4.12. Volume is already more than 10x the daily average of about 133,000 shares traded. The medical device maker received a code-change approval from the American Medical Association that incorporates one of TranS1’s devices.

Archipelago is up more than 22% at $11.06 after posting a new 52-week high of $11.21. Volume is already about 200x the daily average of about 25,000 shares traded. The subscription-based provider of education products is being acquired for $291 million ($11.10/share) by a privately held competitor.

Nature’s Sunshine is up more than 17% at $17.15. Volume is already about double the daily average of 45,000 shares traded. The maker of nutritional products reported earnings that nearly double expectations this morning.

Sino Clean Energy is up nearly 17% at $3.23. Volume is already about about 8x the daily average of around 516,000 shares traded. The Chinese provider of coal-water slurry fuel got a good review of its accounting practices late last week.

GreenHunter Energy is down about -15% at $2.66. Volume is already nearly 4x the daily average of around 137,000 shares traded. The independent oil & gas company had no news today, but early weakness in crude prices moved share prices down for several small energy companies .

Paul Ausick